Before the late-night show and the household fame, the Roots were the pride of Philadelphia’s underground hip-hop scene. The quiet heart of that version of the Roots — an unforgettable part of the lineup that put them on the map, won countless devoted fans, and enabled all the success to …
Read More »Idles' Pulverizing Gut-Check 'Grounds' Is a Song You Need to Know
It’s difficult to decide whether Idles frontman Joe Talbot’s angry vituperation or the band’s slamming, vertigo-inducing guitar riffs sound heavier on “Grounds,” the latest song the Bristol, U.K. group has released from its upcoming Ultra Mono album. For a band that titled its first album Brutalism, Idles sound more bellicose, …
Read More »The Immediate Family: James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt Session Vets Launch New Band
Their names are familiar to anyone who grew up on SoCal rock. In various combinations, guitarists Danny Kortchmar and Waddy Wachtel, bassist Leland Sklar, and drummer Russ Kunkel contributed to countless albums by James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Carole King, and Don Henley, among many others. What they’ve never …
Read More »The Best Albums of May 2020: Lady Gaga, Bad Bunny, Future and More
Each month, the editors and critics at Rolling Stone compile a list of must-hear new albums. Our picks for May include Lady Gaga’s return to the dancefloor, Bad Bunny’s quarantine quickie and Steve Earle’s tribute to coal country Lady Gaga, Chromatica Chromaticais a return to form, and a return to …
Read More »How One Music Producer Turned an 11-Year Prison Sentence Into a Mixtape to Help Inmates
Not long after Eric Abercrombie, who raps as Maserati E, arrived in San Quentin state prison in 2017, he witnessed a performance by another inmate named David Jassy. “His stage presence and delivery were nuts,” Abercrombie recalls. “I couldn’t understand one verse because it was in Swedish, but it was …
Read More »The Best Streamed Performances of the Stay-at-Home Era
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues and millions remain quarantined around the globe, more and more musicians have joined the streaming trend — performing live from their couches, kitchens, and even bathrooms — while consoling fans. Even classic bands like the Grateful Dead are streaming archival concerts, reminding listeners of a …
Read More »You Definitely Need to Hear This New Dixie Chicks Song
“What a lie-lie-lie-lie,” Natalie Maines sings in “Gaslighter,” the long-awaited first piece of new music that the Dixie Chicks have released since the George W. Bush administration. Maines has hinted that the group’s upcoming album will chronicle her 2019 divorce, and the new single clears up any ambiguity. The thinly-veiled …
Read More »Has Amazon Already Figured Out the Future of the Music Streaming Business?
Record label executives in the United States could be forgiven for treating themselves this month. For a while now, fears have existed that audio streaming growth would start to slow in the U.S. If this tipping point happens — when this tipping point happens — it will be a concrete …
Read More »Pearl Jam's 'Vitalogy': How Band Nearly Came Apart Making Volatile LP
They wanted to call it “Life,” and by the time Pearl Jam began recording their third album, their lives seemed pretty charmed. Despite ignoring nearly every dictate of the music business, they had sold millions of copies of Ten and Vs. Creatively, Pearl Jam were on such fire that they …
Read More »Josh Homme on the Power of Desert Sessions and Waiting for Them Crooked Vultures
Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme led his first “Desert Session” in 1997, a year after he left stoner-metal firebrands Kyuss, when he invited members of Monster Magnet and Soundgarden, among others, together for an improvisational jam in Joshua Tree, California. After that, he regularly organized different groups …
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